The very few eBay auctions that I haven't won closed at silly prices, and at those prices, I was glad that I didn't win. In each case, I went on to find a better item for less.

Ask yourself at what price will you be relieved you didn't win the auction, and at what price you will wish you did. The item is worth someplace between those two numbers for you.

If you choose this number correctly, it's the number at which you could take it or leave it. It's the number at which you're on the verge between being happy about winning, or being glad someone else did instead at that price.

Shipping Charges

Be sure to consider the shipping charges. If you wish to spend no more than $300 for an item as delivered, and if the shipping is $15, enter only $285 as your maximum bid.

Rats, I could have had it if I had bid a dollar more!

Not really.

The winning price is merely one small increment over what the second highest bidder bid.

The winning price is rarely as high as the winner's maximum bid.

Every time I win an auction, it's always for about a dollar more than another guy.

This probably leaves guy #2 scratching his head as to how Rockwell knew to bid exactly one dollar more then he did, and how did I do it exactly at the last second when guy #2's maximum bid hadn't been discovered yet?

What confused other guy doesn't realize is that I probably entered a maximum bid $200 over wherever the auction closed. If guy #2 had had the time to react, most likely he still wouldn't have won, but would have bid-up the price unnecessarily, or been driven to pay way too much himself. That's auction fever.

If I early-bid, anyone else could keep placing sucker bids a dollar or two higher, and lo and behold, eBay's automated system would keep placing automated bids from me a dollar above each of the other bids until they gave up.

You almost never could have won an auction for a small increment over the winning amount. If you had bid higher against the winner, it would keep climbing until the eventual winner was just one increment over the other bidder.

I support my growing family through this website, as crazy as it might seem.

The biggest help is when you use any of these links to Adorama, Amazon, eBay, B&H, Ritz, Calumet, J&R and ScanCafe when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. It costs you nothing, and is this site's, and thus my family's, biggest source of support. These places have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.

If you find this
page as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may
have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

If you've gotten your gear through one of my links or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!

As this page is copyrighted and formally registered, it is unlawful to make copies, especially in the form of printouts for personal use. If you wish to make a printout for personal use, you are granted one-time permission only if you PayPal me $5.00 per printout or part thereof. Thank you!